After taking some time to rest and collect themselves, the group ventured deeper into Nidavellir. After crossing a river of lava, they entered a massive open-air temple where they discovered the smoldering remains of a winged creature. Before they could investigate, they were attacked by a group of fire salamanders that emerged from the lava surrounding the temple. The creatures attacked with many-pronged spears and deadly tails, and any attacks against them proved foolhardy as their searing skin burned their attackers. The group was soon forced to get creative and used cold-infused attacks that proved far deadlier against the elemental beasts.
Eventually, they slew the salamanders (evening managing to finish the last one off as it attempted to slink back into the lava flow). As they inspected the smoldering carcass, they discovered it belonged to a demon called a Balor. This demon was likely the one who was drawn to the sword of Surtr and wiped out the city long ago. They passed through the temple and began climbing their way to the foot of the volcano, where a mighty forge awaited. On a rocky formation surrounded by lava flows, the ancient forges of Nidavellir sat unused for centuries. The massive sword of Surtr, easily 80 feet tall, was embedded in the ground. Near the sword was a runestone carved from a block of ice generation a swirling maelstrom of icy wind. Nearby, the frost giant
Birgir chanted a ritual to destroy the sword. As they arrived and interrupted the ritual, Birgir conjured forth 3 wolves formed from ice and readied his massive greataxe against them.
Jolkottr conjured a fey spirit and sent it against the giant, while Jawhara and Kelthar charged into the maelstrom and Kane unleashed a massive blast of radiant fire in the name of Ingwi. The flames badly wounded one of the ice wolves and destroyed the ice rune, ending the icy maelstrom and the giant's ritual to destroy the sword. As Jawhara and Kelthar attacked Birgir, he blocked several of their blows with shields of ice and retaliated with devastating blows from his own axe. Meanwhile, Kane and Jolkottr battled the ice wolves. Kelthar turned his attention to a nearby ice wolf and unleshed flaming unarmed strikes, quickly melting it down to nothing as Jolkottr's fey spirit finished them off. Kane employed a similar tactic, imbuing his mace with holy fire and striking down the last remaining ice wolf. Meanwhile, Jawhara's battle against Birgir nearly ended her as he unleashed blow after blow against her as she desperately tried to hold the line. Kelthar, noticing Birgir's runic amulet glowing whenever he conjured ice shields, began attacking the amulet and nearly destroyed it. With a combined assault from the entire party, they turned the tide of battle against Birgir. Seeing his defeat near, Birgir conjured a frigid fog that errupted and badly wounded most of the party. As their vision returned, he had left only a sheet of quickly melting ice on the ground. The giant had fled, abandoning his quest to destroy the sword.
After taking some time to heal wounds and gather themselves, the group investigated the sword. Jawhara found that the sword pulled her axe towards it by some unseen force. The closer she got, the stronger the pull became. Finally, as the sword and axe touched, a bright flash blinded them for a moment before the sword turned to ash and crumbled. He axe glowed orange and erupted in flames, having absorbed the essence of Surtr. She was immediately assaulted by visions of the Duergar forging the blade with Surtr the fire giant standing near, daydreaming about slaying frost giants in the frostwastes and sealing the rift to niflheim with the sword (the rift was at the center of a large fortress deep in the frostwastes).
They left Nidavellir and found a cave to rest for the night. That evening, they remembered the bag of beans they had found at he bottom of the giant pit and decided to plant one of the beans before going to bed. In the morning, a massive bean stalk had grown from it, punching through the rock above. Having decided to leave Svartalfheim, they tried to climb the stalk to see where it led. After over half a day of climbing up the beanstalk, they found the stalk had grown through to the surface. They climbed up onto the surface, welcoming the sight of the moon and open sky above. They found themselves by the road to the dwarf-hold of Khazad-Nogaak, and camped there for the night. In the morning, they were awakened by dwarven merchant caravans on the way to the dwarf-hold with goods. The dwarves were inspecting the beanstalk and hole, and Kelthar spoke with them. He explained the situation and told them of Svartalfheim, and they were impressed by his tales but worried about what monsters the hole could allow up from the depths. The dwarves decided to seal the hole with explosives, and destroyed the portion of the beanstalk sticking up from the ground. The group tried to ask the dwarves for a ride back to Hogasun, but they were heading in the opposite direction towards the dwarf-hold and refused to return the other way. Content to walk, the group began their trek back to Hogasun.
Two days and a morning later, the group found their way back to the Vikingr village and met with Jarl Jorunson at the longhall. He was pleased to see them return, and though he was saddened to hear of the death of his men he was happy they died a warrior's death and would live forevermore in Valhalla among the glorious dead. When Jawhara explained everything they had learned, he grew grim and surmised that Ragnarok (the Vikingr endtimes) had come. But he soon overcame his grief and began planning. They would need allies to hold back the giants, and he would call upon Arlenport for aid. The group also suggested calling upon the dwarves of Khazad-Nogaak, and they began to formulate a plan to send word to both of them...
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